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After Fandi Ahmad said he will retire in Batam due to high cost of living, another report from our own scholars ranked SGP above Seoul and Hong Kong! Note that the article didn't mention Korea or China cause it's not consistently that expensive in those countries across all cities. Singapore is the only city so we're screwed with nowhere else to retire to. No million $$$ no condo! No 0.5 million $$$ no HDB! No 100k no car!

Wu ngia bo? For clearer page, see p8 ST today

Test drive can drive above speed limit? Didnt see anything about TP going to summon him? ============================== http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/...ts-car-20130511 A STUDENT who was given a test drive in a Dutch-made sports car at a private race track will have to pay more than $70,000 in damages after crashing it. Mr Sean Liew Cheng En drove the Spyker C8 Spyder SWB at 240kmh during the invite-only event at the Singapore Changi Airshow Exhibition Centre. He had been given a briefing on the vehicle's capabilities and how he should drive it, according to a court judgment published yesterday. But while negotiating a series of turns, the National University of Singapore undergraduate lost control of the car, which spun anti-clockwise, hit the kerb and landed back on the tarmac. He will have to pay damages to luxury vehicle importer and distributer Auto Palace after the district court found he had driven "at a speed that was non-commensurate with his abilities".

pappy always like to say no amount of engineering can prevent and anything if anything is gonna be costly. any experts here able to quantity the damage so far, and the cost of building the prevention if it was built already to prevent? damage costs: 1. damaged goods 2. loss of rental income (any goodwill from building management?) 3. insurance payout 4. contractors, etc. for pumping out water 5. renovation 6. scrapped cars 7. new road raising 8. loss of tourist spendings along orchard belt i'm sure there's like hundreds so everyone just contribute to the items or estimated costs. maybe easier if we were to contain it to only the town area.

Fri May 22, 2009 2:03am EDT * Temasek says risk-return environment had changed * May take investment loss to cut risk, tap opportunities * Temasek's losses on BofA may exceed $3 bln * Letter comes after whirlwind of criticism (adds analysts quotes, background) By Kevin Lim and Saeed Azhar SINGAPORE, May 22 (Reuters) - Singapore's Temasek defended its money-losing exit from Bank of America (BAC.N), saying the U.S.-centric bank did not fit its investment criteria and the risk was perceived to be greater than the expected return. The explanation, a rarity for the state investor, came in a letter to major Singapore newspapers after the loss on BofA attracted fierce criticism from the usually muted pro-government local media, investors and independent blogs, which noted BofA shares have rallied more than 70 percent after Temasek's exit. The losses are also expected to be discussed when Singapore's Parliament convenes next week. Temasek, which is headed by Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore's prime minister, sold its 3 percent stake in BofA in the first quarter after converting its Merrill shares into BofA in January. Temasek has not said how much it lost in the process, but Reuters estimated the loss was more than $3 billion. [iD:nSIN454726] Temasek announced in February that Ho will step down and be replaced by Chip Goodyear, the former CEO of BHP Billiton (BHP.AX), on Oct. 1. "Our investment thesis had changed from Merrill's specific businesses to the more diversified BoA linkage to the broader U.S. economy. The risk-return environment had also changed substantially," Myrna Thomas, managing director for corporate affairs, said in the letter. Temasek's aim is to ensure that its portfolio delivers returns that are higher than the cost of capital employed on a risk-adjusted basis, Thomas said. "We may choose to divest an investment, even at a loss, to optimise our risk or portfolio exposure, or if there are better opportunities elsewhere or later," she added. Temasek, which like other sovereign wealth funds, ploughed billions into Merrill Lynch in the early phase of the credit crisis, saw the value of its portfolio plunge 31 percent to S$127 billion between March 31 and Nov 30 last year during the severe market turmoil. KEY QUESTION UNANSWERED Financial investments accounted for 40 percent of its portfolio. "The letter doesn't give the answer that everybody is asking. How much did they lose?," Leong Sze Hian, president of the Society of Financial Services Professionals, told Reuters. The exact losses are difficult to quantify because Temasek had also offloaded about 30 million Merrill shares last year in smaller lots, reducing its exposure to the investment bank by the time BofA took over Merrill. Conraj Raj, editor-at-large at the Today newspaper in Singapore, threw the spotlight on the sovereign wealth fund's stated strategy of taking a long-term view of its investments. "After all, it has been drummed into us ad nauseam that both Temasek and its cousin, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, invest for the long term with a time horizon that could stretch for as long as 50 years," he wrote on May 18. "Whatever happened to the sovereign wealth fund's (SWF) strategy of taking a long-term view of its investments?" Singapore's bigger sovereign wealth fund, GIC, on the other hand said it was a long-term investor in Citigroup (C.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX). [iD: SIN463524] "It is difficult to understand why a long-term investor like Temasek was willing to stick with a dud like Australia's ABC Learning centres to the end, but did not try to exercise a little bit more patience with a U.S. government-backed entity like BofA," Png Eng Huat wrote in a letter to Straits Times forum. "The U.S. government has stated clearly that it will not nationalise BofA even though it is technically the largest shareholder of the bank." (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_262028.html July 28, 2008 S'pore parking not as costly as in other cities By Jermyn Chow SINGAPORE cars may be among the world's most expensive, but parking in prime areas here is far less taxing on the wallet. Drivers here pay far less than their counterparts in cities such as London, Sydney or Tokyo, according to the first major survey of parking charges worldwide. Property consultant Colliers International, which did the study, ranked Singapore 52 out of 138 cities for how much drivers paid to score a lot in the city centre for a day. Drivers pay an average of $27.16 for eight hours, far less than the top price of $92.63 in London. In the Asia-Pacific, it ranked seventh. Also scoring well is Singapore's monthly season parking rate - at $247.60 a month. This falls far short of charges in many cities including Sydney ($1,054.02) and Hong Kong ($1,009.94). Analysts spoken to said that prices here remain comparatively cheap - in tandem with a relatively cheaper cost of living. This despite parking rates increasing by 10 to 20 per cent over the past two years. Workers in the central business district (CBD) here also enjoy the luxury of more parking spaces: about 165 per 1,000 jobs, compared to space-short Hong Kong, which has only 23. Carpark operators say they have no immediate plans to raise charges, much to the relief of motorists. Said marketing executive Alvin Lam, 31, who drives to his workplace in Shenton Way every day: 'I have already paid so much to buy a car and on ERP charges, I cannot imagine having to spend even more on parking.' The respite could be brief, warned Mr Nicholas Mak, property consultant Knight Frank's director of research and consultancy - a looming carpark crunch in the CBD could drive up parking charges. Upcoming office buildings and shopping malls - especially those in Marina Bay - have to restrict the number of parking spaces they can have, under tightened regulations. The Market Street Carpark, which has 704 parking lots in the CBD area, could soon come under the wrecking ball. It may be redeveloped into an office building, cutting the number of spaces available in the city. Said Mr Mak: 'It will be a matter of time before carpark charges spiral upwards.' http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_262028.html ----------- after reading so many car break-ins, vandalism, arsons... i sense a robbery abt to take place soon... somewhere... cud b everywhere.

Are there still many Mr Tan out there who 'dare' to spend > $0.5 million on a HDB flat when the combined income is One may certainly argue that it's worth it because the location is in town, where it is 10-15mins away from Chinatown, Raffles/City Hall, Orchard, etc. Will a 30-40mins travel distance 'kill' you ? No ! But, the hefty loan will certainly 'ruin' you if you fail to pay your monthly finances.